Page 16 of Valor

Shifting Bear on her lap, as the pup had fallen asleep in the crook of her arm, she turned to face him. “You told me nobody knew you’d recovered there. So how could the bad guys have figured that out?”

“Did you tell your brother?” Owen’s comment felt like a slap.

“No!” Realizing her loud voice had startled the dog, she tried to dial it back. “I haven’t talked to Doug since you told me to turn off my phone.”

He shot her a quick glance but didn’t say anything.

“Owen, I have never lied to you. Not once.” She thought back to their brief time together in January. “Back when you kidnapped me, I told you that my brother worked for the DEA in Milwaukee. That if he knew I was missing, he’d do everything in his power to find me. And I was right about that. Doug found your hideout despite the blizzard.”

Owen gave a small nod of agreement.

“I’ve never lied to you,” she repeated. Then after a pause, she added, “But you can’t say the same to me, can you?”

His jaw hardened. She figured he’d continue ignoring her, when he finally said, “No, I can’t say the same. Because I have lied. Too many times to count.”

The truth sat like an insurmountable boulder between them. Suspecting that he’d lied to her wasn’t the same as hearing the blunt statement out loud.

She turned to stare out the passenger-side window, telling herself she was a fool for feeling hurt. The beautifully majestic mountains loomed before them. Owen had to slow down to safely navigate the winding road. It occurred to her that Owen could easily drive to the middle of nowhere, kill her, dump her body, and keep going.

Yet despite everything that had just transpired between them, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Oh, he was capable of killing a man, she’d witnessed that firsthand when he’d shot the guy choking her.

But even back in January, he’d never hurt her.

Not physically anyway. Emotionally? She pressed a hand to her bruised heart.

But even as the thought entered her mind, she knew she couldn’t lay the blame for that at his feet. She controlled her emotions.

She had to make better choices. So what if the guys she’d dated recently were boring and produced no spark? That didn’t mean she was going to throw all her principles out the window. She needed to believe God had a plan for her.

Feeling slightly better, she told herself that the next town they reached would be the end to her association with Owen. She’d call Doug to ask him to pick her up. Depending on how far away the next town was located, Doug may even charter a plane from his sister-in-law’s fiancé, Logan, to get to her faster.

She’d feel more guilty about that except that she knew Jessica and Logan were newly engaged to be married and that the Sullivan family stuck together no matter what.

Did Owen have family? If so, he’d never mentioned them.

“Where are those sandwiches?” Owen asked.

“Hang on.” Twisting in her seat, she reached for the bag. Bear woke up and nosed the food as she handed a sandwich to Owen. Then she pulled out the other one for herself, realizing she was hungry too.

“Thanks.” He took a bite, and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

“There’s more water too.” The silence that stretched between them felt awkward. As if they were both battling regrets at how they’d ended up there.

“Maybe later.” He didn’t look at her; he just stayed focused on the road.

When she’d finished her sandwich, Bear began climbing over her again. He seemed to be trying to get down, even batting at the window. “Owen, I think Bear needs to go to the bathroom.”

Now he did look at her, his gaze softening when he eyed the pup. “Okay, there’s an overlook spot up ahead. We’ll stop and take a break.”

“Thanks. I don’t know that much about dogs, only the little bit I’ve learned from the Sullivan K9s. They feed their dogs twice a day. As it’s going on six thirty at night, we should probably feed Bear soon.”

“Yeah, that should be fine,” he agreed. “I don’t know that much about dogs either.”

“You didn’t grow up having pets?” She tried not to sound nosy.

“No.” He finished his sandwich. “There’s the lookout.”

She took the wrapper from him and balled their garbage together in the bag. Bear was still fidgeting in her lap, so the minute Owen pulled into one of the diagonal parking slots, she pushed her door open and quickly set the puppy down.

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